Mission Accomplished.....but not in time for the holidays.

The title, the cover, the ISBN number and all the guts are done.   I took a deep breath, celebrated with the Wonton Seafood Soup at Lotus Hunan on Bee Caves Rd. and then got back to work on the next project.


First, the self congratulatory, self pat on the back:  Four books in two years.  Yay! Now a bit about the book:

There are a lot of choices on the market when it comes to lighting equipment for photography but the typical photographer usually is only exposed to the most mainstream, bestselling and most cost effective products.  Beyond the world of shoe mount flashes there is another universe of lighting tools, made to satisfy nearly every lighting goal imaginable.

I've worked in photography for many years and have also done quite a bit of work with video and film production.  This exposed me to a much broader range of lights.  From 18,000 watt movie lights with large fresnel lenses to tiny LED panels that add just the right touch of light to a scene poised on the border between light and shadow.

More importantly, my tenure in both moving images and high end studio work have shown me what kind of accessories are required to really leverage the capabilities of diverse light sources.

This book is an overview of what's out there.  How it's used.  And why.

I only had 128 pages at my disposal but I tried to make sure that a photographer reading through would discover the range and the advantages and disadvantages to each category of light.  It's good to know that an 18,000 watt HMI figure can compete with the sun in a large area but it's also good to know that they are huge, heavy and require special power sources (and an experienced crew) to use.

The book is out of my hands now and is in the last lap with the publishing experts at Amherst Media.  If all goes according to plan the book will be out in late Spring, 2010.

If you are looking for the perfect gift to give a fellow photographer right now I'd love to recommend my third book, Commercial Photography Handbook.  It's pretty darn good.  One week till Christmas.  Hope everyone is doing well.